Toward New Thermoelectrics: Tin Selenide/Modified Graphene Oxide Nanocomposites

Iryna S Protsak; Simon Champet; Chang-Yang Chiang; Wuzong Zhou; Srinivas R Popuri; Jan-Willem G Bos; Dinesh K Misra; Yevhenii M Morozov; Duncan H Gregory

doi:10.1021/acsomega.8b03146

Toward New Thermoelectrics: Tin Selenide/Modified Graphene Oxide Nanocomposites

ACS Omega. 2019 Mar 29;4(3):6010-6019. doi: 10.1021/acsomega.8b03146. eCollection 2019 Mar 31.

Authors

Iryna S Protsak¹, Simon Champet¹, Chang-Yang Chiang², Wuzong Zhou², Srinivas R Popuri³, Jan-Willem G Bos³, Dinesh K Misra⁴, Yevhenii M Morozov⁵, Duncan H Gregory¹

Affiliations

¹ WestCHEM, School of Chemistry, University of Glasgow, Glasgow G12 8QQ, U.K.
² EaSTCHEM, School of Chemistry, University of St Andrews, St Andrews, Fife KY 16 9ST, U.K.
³ Institute of Chemical Sciences and Centre for Advanced Energy Storage and Recovery, School of Engineering and Physical Sciences, Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh EH14 4AS, U.K.
⁴ CSIR-National Physical Laboratory, Dr. K.S. Krishnan Marg, New Delhi 110012, India.
⁵ Institute for Information Recording of NASU, 2 Shpaka Street, Kiev 03113, Ukraine.

Abstract

New nanocomposites have been prepared by combining tin selenide (SnSe) with graphene oxide (GO) in a simple aqueous solution process followed by ice templating (freeze casting). The resulting integration of SnSe within the GO matrix leads to modifications of electrical transport properties and the possibility of influencing the power factor (S ²σ). Moreover, these transport properties can then be further improved (S, σ increased) by functionalization of the GO surface to form modified nanocomposites (SnSe/GO_mod) with enhanced power factors in comparison to unmodified nanocomposites (SnSe/GO) and "bare" SnSe itself. Functionalizing the GO by reaction with octadecyltrimethoxysilane (C₂₁H₄₆O₃Si) and triethylamine ((CH₃CH₂)₃N) switches SnSe from p-type to n-type conductivity with an appreciable Seebeck coefficient and high electrical conductivity (1257 S·m^-1 at 539 K), yielding a 20-fold increase in the power factor compared to SnSe itself, prepared by the same route. These findings present new possibilities to design inexpensive and porous nanocomposites based on metal chalcogenides and functionalized carbon-derived matrices.